


doctor's orders

by Thornofthelily



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anal Fingering, Anal Fisting, Anal Sex, Brief suicidal ideation, Dissociation, Drugging, Emotional Manipulation, Forced Heat, Impaired Consent, Lies and Deception, M/M, Maruki is a Very Bad Doctor, Multiple Orgasms, Omegaverse, Trauma, beta!Maruki, bottom!ren, mentions of irregular eating habits, mentions of knotting and pheromones, omega!Ren, top!maruki, which means no consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:34:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thornofthelily/pseuds/Thornofthelily
Summary: “Need you,” Ren moans, leaning in to really scent at Maruki’s neck, but it’s not right. He doesn’t smell right. He moves up, behind his ear, to the more natural scent of skin and salt. “Need – please, Sensei –”Maruki gasps, shivers, and his hands find Ren’s waist. “It’s okay,” he murmurs, pulling Ren tight to his chest, and he nearly sobs in relief at the contact. Ren nuzzles mindlessly against Maruki’s chest, pressing his cheek over his heart. “I’ll take care of you, Ren. I’ll make the pain stop.”
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Maruki Takuto, Kurusu Akira/Maruki Takuto, Persona 5 Protagonist/Takuto Maruki
Comments: 9
Kudos: 94





	doctor's orders

**Author's Note:**

> MIND THE TAGS. This story depicts an adult coercing a minor into performing sex acts and is not meant to be a positive portrayal of a relationship of any kind. Read at your own risk. A summary of the events of the story and the tag usage is at the author's note at the bottom, if you want to screen for any triggers. Again, this story deals with heavy content, do not read if you are sensitive to such material.

Lunchtime. Ren glances at his phone as he heads to the school store, hoping to grab some bread before they sell out. He sifts through the various messages he gets throughout the day. Requests to hang out from Shinya, complaints from Ryuji about schoolwork, about thirty memes from Futaba. But before he makes it all the way downstairs, his phone pings with one new message.

_[Maruki 12:05]_  
_Good afternoon Ren!_

_[Maruki 12:05]_  
_I got some festive Halloween snacks to give out today. If you’re free, do you want to come try some?_

_[Maruki 12:06]_  
_I’m hoping people actually like them, but I’m not sure…_

Ren smiles, re-hoisting the sloping bag on his shoulder and causing Morgana to whine in annoyance at the sudden sharp alteration of gravity. He pokes his little kitty face out to glower. “Every time you pull so hard, all your stuff bumps into me!”

“Sorry,” he laughs, rubbing the spot between his ears he knows Morgana likes. “I’m actually going to run to the nurse’s office and grab a few snacks. Why don’t you hang out with Ann in the courtyard till then? I’m gonna see how many treats I can get from the doc and share them.”

Morgana huffs and leaps gracefully from the bag. “Don’t get caught,” Ren teases as the not-cat saunters boldly back up the stairs.

“A Phantom Thief like me? Just watch!” Ren watches with amusement as his tail slips around the landing and disappears.

Ren heads back to the first floor, and when he notices how long the line is at the school store, he’s relieved Maruki messaged him. He’d been on heat suppressants since puberty, and while they kept him from having a true heat, the time near where he would normally have his cycle still wore him out. He didn’t have much of an appetite on the best of days, but during that time, he basically only wanted carbs, sweets, easy sources of energy. Biology classes suggested that was because they are the easiest and fastest nutrients to process, and omegas like Ren craved these simple sugars for the marathon-length mating sessions their heat sometimes demanded. Even with the worst of it dulled by his drugs, the base aches and cramps and cravings still bothered him enough that Ren didn’t bother bringing his lunch, instead hoping for some of the sweet breads at the shop.

But with Maruki’s offer, he might be able to skip the line and get a few easy treats. And it sounds like Maruki is trying to unload these on him first; he always tried to bribe people with food. At least Ren always left their sessions with handfuls of sweets, like Maruki’s a lonely grade schooler trying to bribe people into friendship. It’s kinda cute.

Sure enough, in the practice building, there’s almost no one around. The door to the nurse’s office is open, so Ren pokes his head inside. “Dr. Maruki?”

“Ren!” He almost sounds startled, peaking around one of the drawn-back privacy curtains. “Oh, did you see my message?”

Ren laughs, walking inside and sitting on the couch as usual. “You know I can’t say no to some free food. You said these were Halloween-themed?”

Maruki smiles warmly, standing up from his swivel chair and passing by Ren to shut the door behind him. He sighs a long, contented note. “Sometimes I wonder if you only like me because I feed you. What, are you a cat or something?” He shakes his head in mock exasperation and sits across from Ren. “But yeah, I have these spooky black cookies with red sprinkles. Maybe if people don’t care for Halloween, I can pitch them as Phantom Thief cookies, huh?” He laughs as he opens the round nondescript tin on the table between them. Ren thanks him and grabs one.

Ren likes this air between the two of them. Casual, friendly. Ren always got along best with betas for some reason, and no surprise most of his team are betas. Being an omega tended to make one naturally skittish, although of course biological instinct couldn’t override someone’s personality. But after that incident with the alpha in his home town, the alpha police officers grabbing his hair and throwing him around, using the excuse that _it’s fine, omegas like it rough,_ and especially Kamoshida, the natural fear underpining his dynamic had been reinforced with real experience.

Maruki’s not like that, though. He always felt safe. Almost excessively safe, like he knew Ren might be jittery. Well, he probably did know; he must have read the file the school had on him. But he never judged. That’s probably a good quality to have in a counselor. And with everything Ren will be facing in the coming months – the police threat, a new and dangerous Palace, and… and whatever Akechi is planning, it’s nice to have a place he can just relax and feel safe.

Although, these cookies kind of taste terrible. Ren finishes the first one but can’t hide the wrinkling of his nose and twisting of his mouth. “What’s wrong, Ren?” Maruki’s kind brown eyes widen behind the glasses.

“Nothing, they just… I don’t think you’ll make a lot of friends with these,” he says with an awkward chuckle. “They taste… ashy?”

“Ashy? Like maybe they’re burned?” He picks up a cookie, sniffs it, but doesn’t take a bite. “Oh no, I made these myself but I’m not a great cook. I hope I didn’t mess them up!”

“No, not burned, but they kind of taste like chalk. Or maybe the color is just changing my cognition of the taste?” He offers weakly, hoping to maybe change the subject. He doesn’t want to hurt Maruki’s feelings, especially now that he realizes they were homemade. Poor Maruki. Ren doesn’t want him to feel bad. He’s like a pitiable little puppy, afraid no one is going to like him.

“I wonder if they all taste that bad…” he ventures, but he looks at the pastry in his hand with distrust. “I found the recipe online for how to make spooky black sweets, but maybe the recipe is bad.”

Not wanting to make him feel worse, Ren obliges him by taking another cookie and eating it quickly, trying to swallow past the cloying dry taste. They wouldn’t be bad, but the texture is gritty, and anything good in each bite crumples into sand between his teeth. Altogether, the second one is somehow worse than the first, the dry taste and unpleasant texture making his stomach clench. “Bad recipe,” Ren agrees, trying not to show his discomfort. “Sorry, doc.”

Maruki sighs, putting away his cookie and closing the tin. “That’s alright, Ren. Thanks for trying them. I know I can always trust your opinion, I’m just sorry I made you try them out first.”

“No problem,” Ren says. His stomach cramps again and he barely resists the urge to wrap his arms around his belly. Ugh, he might need a bathroom, actually. “I think I need to finish lunch and head back to class though.”

He blinks and sits up straighter. “Right, of course! Sorry, I’m so used to you visiting me after school, I forgot.” He stands first and opens the door, and Ren notices that he has to flick the lock open. Huh. He had locked the door. Does he always do that? “Enjoy your lunch. I’m sorry again about the cookies. I’ll have better treats next time!”

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it,” Ren answers, trying not to make it obvious as he stumbles towards the bathroom. He’s sweating now, too, but also shivering? He must be getting sick with something. Just eating those cookies couldn’t have made him this ill, this fast. Hunching over the sink, he takes a few deep, steadying breaths. He feels nauseous and a little woozy, stomach periodically cramping. Rubbing it doesn’t seem to help, but he doesn’t think he needs the toilet. It’s more like… when his heat is supposed to come around, he gets symptoms kind of like this, but the pills always ensured they were mild. Maybe his cycle is kicking into high gear this time because of all the Metaverse stuff? Danger and thrill-seeking and heart-pounding excitement might be doing something to his hormones. Either that, or it’s just a cold. Maybe both. Hell, maybe he’s just hungry. Either way, he needs to head back. If he’s gonna swipe any of Ann’s pocky and get his sugar fix, he better do it soon.

He splashes his face with some water, breaths deeply, tries to settle his nerves. Maybe if he can just get through the day… it’s Friday, so if he is sick, he can stay home Saturday, then have all of Sunday to rest, too. He makes it to Ann in the courtyard, who comments that he seems a little pale, but he shrugs it off, apologizing that he didn’t get any snacks from Maruki. He might be getting a cold, he mumbles. His abdomen continues to clench and twist painfully at random intervals, and he’s uncomfortably warm and damp under his blazer and turtleneck. Ann’s snacks don’t help, and he just gets twitchy. It’s harder and harder to focus on Ann and Morgana’s conversation, so he lapses into comfortable quiet, smiling and nodding and shrugging when it seems appropriate.

He doesn’t remember walking back to the classroom. He definitely has a fever by now. Just a couple more hours and he can curl up in his bed in Leblanc, crawl under the covers, kick off his pants and boxers and…

And…

Oh god.

Ren is wet, and hard, and he has been for a while. He bites his lip, curls in tighter around himself. What is going on with him? They’re in the middle of a lesson! Why can’t Ren get a hold of himself?

Ann shifts uncomfortably in front of him, glancing over her shoulder, then reaches for her phone.

 _[Ann 1:37]_  
_Ren, are you sure it’s just a_ _cold_ _?_

_[Ann 1:38]_  
_If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were in heat or smth_

_[Ann 1:38]_  
_You’re starting to smell like a flower shop!_

Ren groans, thunking his head against his desk. Ann’s another omega, she would know what a heat looks like. Mishima, the other omega in their class, fidgets in his seat, along with two alphas. Their noses twitch, and their eyes roam the classroom in a haze, pupils dilated. Ren clasps his hands over the back of his neck, clenching his thighs together to hide the erection that refuses to go down. Just a few more hours, he tries to tell himself. But of course Mr. Hiruta is the one teaching today, and even with his beta sense of smell, he recognizes when a class of volatile, pheromone-laden teenagers start getting antsy.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Okay, okay, I know this is embarrassing, so I don’t want to call anyone out. But is someone on their heat right now?” The rest of the beta class whisper and glance around, while the few omegas and alphas avoid looking at anyone. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, it happens. It’s just biology, remember? But you probably should get to the nurse’s office if you are feeling bad and get home for the day.”

Ren refuses to believe he’s in heat, despite all the signs. He’s on heat suppressants, and they’ve never failed before! But he’s also not sure how long he can stand being in this room. The alphas’ scents answer Ren’s body, a thick musk wrapping around his throat and coating his tongue. He bites his cheek to keep from whining. All he wants to do is roll over at their feet and spread his legs for them.

Ann, blessed Ann, stands up, raising her hand. “Sorry, Hiruta-sensei, it’s me!” She announces loudly, and acting extremely unlike an omega in heat. “I forgot my pills this morning. Would it be okay if Ren walked me over to the nurse’s office? I don’t want to go alone, but I’d feel safer if he were with me.”

The class’s whispering gets even louder. Some of them cast curious, dirty looks their way. Dimly, Ren feels bad, knowing this won’t help the rumors that still sometimes circulate about her. The alphas stare at both of them with open hunger.

Mr. Hiruta sighs and waves them off. “Alright, alright, off you two go.”

“Thanks!” Ann chirps, looping her arm under Ren’s and pulling him upright with surprising force. He shivers as his slick drips down his thighs. He barely manages to grab his bag (this time without Morgana) and hold it in front of his hips, trying to maintain some dignity as Ann drags him out of the room. “Ugh, Ren, you’re heavier than you look,” she gripes. Ren frowns in confusion and stares at the classroom door. Why is she taking him away from the alphas? They smelled so nice… there were two, enough for them to share…

But Ann places her wrist under his nose and tuts. “Uh-huh, bad Ren. Don’t go back in there. Here, take a whiff and calm down.” Ann always smells like raspberry gum. While he can barely pick it out from his own flowery pheromones, the other omega’s scent does settle his nerves a little. He scrunches in closer to her side, a base instinct to herd with other omegas for safety.

“You’ve got it bad, huh?” She continues, her voice lowering with concern. She lifts the hand by his face to feel his forehead, then hisses in sympathetic pain. “Yeah, you’re burning up. Gosh, why didn’t you say something?”

“Can’t be on my heat,” he groans, stubborn to the end. “My pills –”

“They probably just failed. That happens sometimes. Do you think you can walk?” She tugs on him again, and he barely manages to shuffle forward. Too much movement makes the slick dribble unpleasantly down the back of his legs. She makes a little distressed sound at the base of her throat. “Not really, huh. Oh no, I wonder if Makoto and Ryuji can help...”

Footsteps up the staircase. Ann jumps a little, positioning herself in front of Ren as though she could defend him if a ravenous alpha suddenly appeared. But it was just Maruki, who nearly jumped out of his sandals seeing Ann and Ren in the hall.

“Takamaki-san! Amamiya-kun! What are you doing?”

Ann glances at Ren, not sure if the doctor knows his dynamic or not, but figuring he’d have to keep that information private if he didn’t know already. “It’s his heat, Dr. Maruki. It hit him real sudden; his pills failed.”

Maruki frowned. “Is that right? Well, I think I have some medicine for him in the nurse’s office. Leave Amamiya-kun to me, Takamaki-san, I’ll make sure he’s feeling better. You should get back to class.”

She nods, glancing between Maruki and Ren. “Ren… are you sure you’ll be alright?” Her nose flares as she scents the air, but Maruki still comes up beta, which is to say she smelled nothing at all.

“Don’t worry,” Ren manages to rasp out. “Maruki’s nice.”

Worrying at her bottom lip for just a minute, she nods. “Okay. But don’t go anywhere unless the heat settles! I’ll come get you after school and make sure you make it back home, alright?”

One more unreadable, guarded glance at Maruki, and Ann dips back into the classroom. Maruki immediately moves next to Ren, putting a heavy, warm arm around his shoulders, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a slow sigh. “Tell me your symptoms,” he urges, voice thready with concern.

Ren’s tongue feels wooly and thick. His groin aches and his stomach contracts, and he can’t remember why. He misses Ann. Maruki’s closeness makes him feel even sweatier. “Hurts,” he manages. “’M hot, and it – hurts.”

Maruki pets Ren’s hair with a cool, wide hand, his cheek leaning against the crown of his skull. Ren doesn’t know why he’s so close when Ren already feels so warm. “Shh,” he soothes, nuzzling into Ren’s frizzy hair, growing even curlier with sweat. “I can help you.”

Ren’s feet walk him down the stairs, Maruki’s body keeps him upright as they head down the walkway through the courtyard, his arms grab for Maruki as they cross into the threshold of the nurse’s office. Again, Maruki closes the door. Ren’s eyes watch him lock it.

“Here, lie down, you can barely stand. Maybe I should have carried you.” Maruki gently but firmly pushes down on Ren’s shoulders. The world spins sharply for a brief instant, and nausea bubbles up Ren’s throat, but it settles as he lies flat on his back. Maruki slips his glasses off his face, and he feels raw and exposed without them. “What a state you’re in,” he murmurs, brushing the back of his fingers down Ren’s flushed pink cheek. What an unusual way to take a temperature. “Let me see what I have for you.”

Maruki leaves his side for a moment, pulling the privacy curtain closed and trapping Ren is a soft blue bubble. Ren can hear rustling through cabinets and drawers, then a soft exclamation. A pause.

Maruki returns and shakes two pills from a bottle, the label obscured by his fist. “Here, Ren. Take these. Emergency heat suppressants. Not as good as your regular regimen but it should be able to hold it down a few hours, until you get home.”

Ren grabs the pills, shoves them in his mouth, and downs them dry. Maruki starts. “Woah, woah, easy there, I got you something to drink.” He tilts the straw of a punctured apple juice box towards his lips, and Ren sleepily accepts the sugary concoction. It tingles down his skin to his fingers and toes, a happy little thrill at getting a shock of glucose. It’s cold, and sweet, and nice. Like Maruki.

Maurki beams. “That’s so kind of you to say, Ren.” Had he said it out loud? Maybe. It's harder to keep his thoughts in his own head, leaking out of him like his desperate pheromones and the wetness between his cheeks. “Try to get some rest. The medicine should start working soon.”

Ren nods, curling up on the bed, pulling sterile-smelling sheets up around his chin. Tries to sleep. Maybe he succeeds. He wishes he had more blankets, more pillows. More comfort. More… safety. Safety? But he’s with Maruki. He’s safe. Should be safe. The door is locked and the privacy curtain is drawn. It’s just the two of them. But some instinct deep down in his brain stem still dreams of walls, of protection, of a purring alpha and the security of their teeth.

Betas have a smell. Ren never knew that before. He rouses blearily to the clean, cold scent of slate gray rock as Maruki leans over him, a hand pressed to his forehead. He’s close enough that his deep, even breaths are rustling Ren’s hair. “Feeling better?”

He does not, in fact, feel better. He burns and feels damp all over from sweat and slick. He tries to speak but his voice is a groan, a – a _moan._ It’s like someone removed his skin, stretched it out, and pulled it back on his body wrong, catching at the wrong angles. Every nerve lights up in a burning hot beacon, and he grabs Maruki, needing something he can’t name, trying to pull him under his flesh so he can fix the aching wrongness inside him.

Maruki flinches and pulls away, face wash in concern. “Ren? Ren, can you hear me?”

A high pitched cry scratches from his throat. Why did he pull away…? Ren can’t be alone right now, doesn’t he see?

Maruki bites his lip. Ren wishes he were biting him instead. _No… wait. That’s not…_ “Ren, I think something’s wrong.”

Ren curls up on the bed, shivering, clutching his arms, aching and hollow and empty everywhere, legs kicking off the sheets frantically, clothes rubbing him wrong and hurting. The space between his hips gapes with loneliness and a desperate need to be filled. Ren keeps scenting the air looking for the safety and security of his dreams, for the scent of an alpha who can fix all his problems and slot into his body like a puzzle piece, but Maruki fills his nose with smoothness and marble and antiseptic. His voice, though, his voice is warm and almost like what he needs, settling over his thoughts in a hazy fog.

“Your heat’s gotten worse, Ren. I don’t… know what else to do.” A hand hovers just beyond touch. Ren wants to cry. Why isn’t anyone touching him? Why can’t he smell an alpha? Can they sense how badly he needs them?

“Shhh,” Maruki soothes, still not touching. “Ren, there’s no alphas here. It’s just me.”

Is he speaking? It’s hard to know. He’s dizzy, moving his head too fast makes the world spin out of sync with his eyes. That hollow space burns and deepens and bleeds, and if he doesn’t fill it, he’s going to die.

“You won’t die,” Maruki shushes, leaning closer. “It’s just a heat. Take a deep breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth.”

Ren tries to comply, but inhaling fills his head with Maruki’s strange scent. He’d never smelled him before beyond just shampoo and cologne. It rattles around the cage of his skull. It’s not an alpha, but it’s better than an omega certainly better than nothing.

“Please,” Ren manages to speak, leaning in to that scent with seeking lips. “Sensei, _please,_ it hurts so much.”

Ren feels Maruki shiver. Feels? He’s close enough to feel. The skin of Maruki’s neck is under his nose, brushing his lips. He’s almost in Maruki’s lap and he doesn’t remember sitting up. “Ren, what do you need?” His voice is stronger now, more like an alpha’s. Not as good as an alpha’s, not as satisfying, but anything is better than being alone, untouched.

“Need you,” Ren moans, leaning in to really scent at Maruki’s neck, but it’s not right. He doesn’t smell right. He moves up, behind his ear, to the more natural scent of skin and salt. “Need – _please,_ Sensei –”

Maruki gasps, shivers, and his hands find Ren’s waist. “It’s okay,” he murmurs, pulling Ren tight to his chest, and he nearly sobs in relief at the contact. Ren nuzzles mindlessly against Maruki’s chest, pressing his cheek over his heart. “I’ll take care of you, Ren. I’ll make the pain stop.”

Maruki’s arms slot under his thighs, and he’s lifted up – dizzy, terrified, losing his connection to the ground, Ren grabs at Maruki, pulls him even tighter. The doctor laughs, gently laying Ren back down on the bed. A worried thought races through his addled brain and he wraps his body tighter around Maruki, afraid he’ll leave him. Maruki strokes up the thigh thrown around his hips. “It’s okay, Ren. It’s okay.” The hand slides up his leg, over the tent in his plaid school pants. Towards his belt and button and zipper, and Ren arches into the touch, babbling nonsense encouragements.

“Yes, please, please, yes, do it –”

A few deft little flicks of his fingers and the pressure around Ren’s dick lessens, then heavy hands on his hips shimmy his clothes down even further, and Ren clumsily tries to help, desperate to free himself. When Ren ends up nude from the waist down, Maruki stares down at him with an expression Ren’s higher brain functions can’t interpret.

“Ren,” he whispers, his voice reverent. He pushes one of Ren’s knees up to his chest, his other hand slipping between his legs. Ren sighs, deep and throaty and relieved, chanting _yes, yes, please, sensei –_ and his fingers dip into the thick pool of slick that had been puddling in Ren’s boxers, and Maruki sucks in a sharp, surprised breath. “ _Ren,_ ” he repeats, choked up in awe. He leans his forehead against his student’s, breathing in deeply. “I’ve got you, relax, Ren.” One finger slips inside Ren, and he mewls, jerking down hard, chasing that feeling. “Careful,” Maruki’s soft voice chides, and he moves so slowly, so painfully, that it sets Ren’s nerves on fire. “You smell so good, Ren,” Maruki sighs, inhaling deeply against Ren’s scalp. “I can’t… my nose isn’t as good as yours, probably, but I think I can smell you. You’re so _sweet._ ” He takes his time, one finger gently exploring inside Ren’s body, his breath fogging at his cheek. Ren whimpers and nuzzles encouragingly against him. He’s already so wet and dripping and loose from the heat, why isn’t Maruki just, _taking_ him like the good omega he is?

“I’m ready, please,” Ren whines, his pheromones hitching to desperate levels, a heady sweetness that no rutting partner would be able to resist. Every muscle unspools in Ren’s body, body language limp and yielding and inviting. He might even be purring, trying to entice his partner’s interest. Maruki breaths deeper and releases a shuddering breath. “I’m ready, alpha–”

Maruki freezes, pulls back. Ren seizes – he fucked up, no, no, he’s going to leave him, he reaches out with scrabbling, desperate hands – and Maruki catches them, threading their fingers together and pushing his arms back against the sheets. “Look at me, Ren.” Ren’s eyes, black from lust and nearly swallowed by even darker pupils, align with Maruki’s gentle gaze. “I’m not your alpha, remember? Who am I, Ren?”

God, he can’t remember, can’t remember. But he doesn’t smell like an alpha, does he? Where is his alpha… doesn’t he have one? But this is the one who said he’d help Ren, right? He’d… he’d take care of him, wouldn’t he? “S-sensei?” he tries, remembering how his lips formed that word a few minutes ago, how much he seemed to like it.

He smiles, free hand petting his face. Ren purrs delightedly, feeling like he did something right. “Good, Ren. Good.” Maruki disentangles their fingers and returns to Ren’s hole, letting his fingers play in the slick until Ren returns to panting, keening, begging. “Sensei,” Ren moans, because that word got him what he wanted before, and he hoped it would work again. “Sensei, please help me, I’m – I –”

“Are you in pain, Ren?” The voice answering back doesn’t sound unsure. Almost teasing. Why was _not his alpha_ teasing him? Doesn’t he know how badly Ren needs to be fucked?

“Yes,” he whimpers.

“Do you need my help?”

“Yes!”

“Where does it hurt, Ren?”

Ren thrashes, throws an arms over his face, covering his eyes. “Inside, everywhere, please t-touch me! _Sensei!_ ”

Maruki smiles and kisses Ren’s temple. “Good boy. My sweet omega.”

Ren, more than half delirious by now, wonders for just a second at the nickname – he didn’t like being called alpha, but he called Ren his omega? Did he do that before? – then finally, _finally_ , Maruki spears three fingers past Ren’s rim and he squeals, whole body jerking in a full-body spasm.

“Good, so good,” Maruki suffuses his praise gently as his fingers seek unerringly towards his prostrate, sending white-hot bolts of pleasure through his dick and spinal column.

“Yes, yes, m-more,” Ren moans, relief and release almost overtaking the pleasure, ecstatic that he’s finally being good, finally being taken care of, finally getting help for this aching pain. “Sensei, thank you, more, feels so good, thank… _ahhhh–!_ ” Ren seizes, arches, toes curling, fire burning long and continuous and deep in his hips, cock twitching. Cum spills over his school uniform, stark white against the black blazer. It last a few seconds, and Maruki’s fingers massage at his sweet spot, making Ren’s eyes roll back and vision blur as he drags the sensation out between the press of his fingertips, deep, deep inside. Even when he empties out, the waves ride him for a beat, and another, his cock straining and twitching before settling down against his hip.

He’s still hard.

“You came, just from that?” His voice is amused and impressed. “You really are feeling it, aren’t you? Those pills really…” he chuckles and shakes his head. “Well, now I know you’re ready.”

Ready…? Pills…? Ren’s head swims as the blinding need simmers back to something just below intolerable. Recognizes Maruki, his friend. A doctor. Yeah, Maruki is a doctor, and he said he’d help him. How was that again…? His eyes follow the line of Maruki’s body as he stands and undoes his own pants, slipping off his white coat and tossing it outside the privacy curtain to puddle somewhere on the floor. Ren tracks the thick brown hairs curling on Maruki’s thighs, trailing up to a thick tangle from which his own cock stands erect and ready. Hands plant on either side of Ren’s head and Maruki positions himself between Ren’s legs. He realizes what’s about to happen, and a thread of rationality snaps to attention.

“Dr. Maruki–” Ren gasps, throat aching because he still wants it, _needs_ it, but for the first time wonders if this is really the best way to help. “Maru... _kah!_ ” The syllables dissolve into foam as Maruki splits him open on his cock, and Ren’s fingers tangle into the bedsheets underneath him as he cries out prettily.

It’s so much, overwhelming. Ren’s never had anything inside him before, and Maruki’s fingers stretched him a little, and his slick smooths the way, but the tear and press against his desperate flesh scrapes a bruised, airy whine from Ren’s lungs. Maruki holds himself in Ren, still, full, both of them convulsing and barely hanging on. Adjusting, although Ren doesn’t understand how he could ever get used to this even as his body screams for them to start moving already. It hurts so much tears prick at his eyes. His throat is too tight to even breathe, let alone beg for more, beg to stop.

“Ren.” Maruki says his name like he owns it, panting against his ear. Air whistles sharply through reedy inhales between Ren’s clenched teeth. “Oh, _Ren,_ you feel so good, so good.” Ren’s hands claw their way from the bed up Maruki’s arms. Clutch at his elbows, one going to his shoulder, managing to push weakly. But that just gets Maurki to move, rocking his hips into Ren gently at first, slowing picking up rhythm and speed as he gets wetter and looser. Ren’s caution fizzles away and his arms fall boneless back over his face, the buzzing, droning need swelling in his skull because he’s getting fucked, someone is fucking him, and it feels _amazing_ and it hurts too but he thinks he likes it, and it’s everything Ren ever wanted.

Almost everything.

Because while it’s so good to finally have that emptiness filled by hard, raw, smooth skin pushing inside him, something is still missing. His body craves that ferocious thickness of satisfied alpha scent, to calm the anxious prey mind desperate for a mate. Ren tests the air but finds nothing, and he keens a low, worried note.

Maruki doesn’t react at first, thrusting with increasing ferocity into Ren’s young, pliant body. At some point, Ren’s hips tilt up, almost folding in half, giving Maruki a relentlessly sharp angle to rail into him. He’s panting now, glasses fogging and face shiny with sweat. “Ren, I –” He stutters, fumbles, curses. A sign of uncertainty? Was he not satisfied by Ren’s performance…? “So tight and wet, I’m not going to – _God, Ru –_ _ **Ren**_ _!_ ”

Slamming in hard, Ren bucks, clutches Maruki to his chest as the cock inside him shudders and heat bleeds into him. Maruki grunts and nudges into him for a few more light, uncoordinated thrusts, and Ren soaks in the warmth, the heat between them – for a second.

But even after he came, Ren smells nothing. Ren doesn’t even feel a knot pressed against his hole. Not that he’d ever felt one before, but his body expects something else. His hole tightens and clenches and cramps with no knot to lock around, no alpha pheromones to trigger the mating, and the vertigo sends him whining and grabbing for Maruki’s shoulders to steady himself.

“Sorry, Ren,” he murmured into his hair without sounding sorry. “I’m just a beta. I can’t actually knot you, and I bet I don’t smell right either, hmm? We’ll just have to keep going until you can be satisfied with me.”

Ren can’t parse his words, other than the promise that he will stay with him and keep fucking him, and he whimpers in approval. But even as he says it, Maruki pulls away, and Ren sobs. Maruki laughs just a little.

“I told you, I’m not going anywhere. But I don’t have that much stamina, we’ll have to do something else for a bit while I rest up.”

Something else? Ren doesn’t want something else! But Maruki wraps his fingers, still wet with slick from earlier, around Ren’s cock and he mews and flops into the mattress like a marionette with its strings cut. Maruki strokes with clinical precision, a steady rhythm and firm grip, tighter at the base, his thumb occasionally swiping over the tip when he leaks more precum. It feels fine, but Ren’s hole aches to be filled again. His cock is secondary, tertiary, to his need to be filled with cum and knots and bonding hormones… The warmth of the room feels cold against the wetness of slick and semen pooling from his ass. The air’s sting reminds him how empty he still is.

“Sensei,” Ren pants, “I need, more, please, I – I can’t, without…”

“You need something inside you, then?” Maruki makes a strange little noise in his throat. The fact Ren can’t smell his emotions, doesn’t know if he’s even enjoying this or not, resounds weirdly in his frantic omega brain, leaves him constantly at the cliff of rejection. Can’t be rejected, can’t be left alone, have to be good… “I don’t have anything here, unfortunately… will my hand suffice?” With his free hand, Maruki slips three fingers back inside him, his other hand still jerking him off, and though it’s not a cock, or a knot, Ren still hums with delight.

With his ass and cock getting the attention they need, Ren’s manic, racing thoughts begin to slow. “Good?” Maruki whispers. “Are you feeling a little better?”

“Yes,” Ren groans, hips fucking up into his palm, squirming back down against crooking fingers that make him see stars when they brush against his prostate. “Thank you, needed this, needed you, thank you…”

“Of course, Ren. I’m a doctor. It’s my job to make you feel better.”

And he does. Finally full, finally getting the attention his body needs, his thoughts swim through the dizzy haze as his fever subsides just a little. Looks at Maruki, really looks at the furrow between his fuzzy brows, the look of concentration, the devoted attention he’s giving to Ren’s cock and ass. Every movement fills the void in his body, completes him with an ache and longing and vicious comfort. He shreds his vocal chords on the spokes of his pleasure, shuddering out moans from deep in his chest. But Ren isn’t… happy.

Seeing Maruki stroke him and finger him, hearing his heavy breaths and low, hoarse voice, Ren’s bothered by something he can’t name. It’s weird. It’s weird that Maruki is doing this for him, isn’t it? He can’t read what Maruki is thinking; can barely read him on the best of days, but especially now, Ren worries. He’s making Maruki do these disgusting things, so awful Ren’s stomach does horrible little flips thinking about it. All Maruki wants to do is help, but Ren’s out of control heat is pushing them both past their limits… God, his inner omega starts spiraling again.

Orgasm builds low and warm again despite his reservations, and his voice pitches high as Maruki works him faster, squeezes his cock to the point of pain, fingers pressing hard into his prostrate and curling Ren’s toes. Damp heat fills his head, growing and swelling until light explodes down his hips and he spills into Maruki’s grip, twitching and blind with the force of his aggressive second orgasm. Maruki must like him at least a little bit, because he’s leaning into Ren’s space, nuzzling his temple with his nose and scenting him. Can Maruki scent him? Beta instincts and senses are a lot less pronounced than in omegas or alphas. “Sensei, I–” but before he could finish trying to formulate a thought, there’s a knock at the door. Maruki jolts, a flash of panic across his eyes before it settles into the calm reassuring doctor face once more. Maruki slips out from the privacy sheets, hears a quick hiss of running water and squelch of soap as he calls out.

“Sorry, I have a patient, I’ll be right there!”

Ren feels in control enough of himself to curl on his side on the bed, pulling the sheets over his naked legs. The realization that he’s been nude from the waist down this whole time, cum drying to a patchy stain on his front, burns a warmth entirely separate from his heat against his cheeks. Though the wooziness of the fever has subsided with three orgasms between the two of them, he can feel it still licking at the back of his neck and between his legs. He’s not sure how long he has, but maybe he can make it back to Leblanc soon. Being alone sounds… well, it still sounds fucking awful, but he can stop bothering Maruki with his embarrassing out-of-control heat. Besides, it’s super weird to be doing this with him anyway, and the sooner they can wrap up, the better.

Maruki finishes washing his hands, and Ren hears the door click and slide open just a sliver.

“Hi!” Ann’s bubbly bright voice is music to Ren’s ears. He looks for his pants, realizes with dismay they’re outside the privacy curtain and getting them would almost certainly expose his nudity to one of his closest friends. “I’ve come to pick up Ren!”

“Oh, are classes already over?” Maruki sounds shocked.

“Not quite, we’re just changing lessons right now. I thought, if Ren is still doing poorly, I could just take him home now, before it’s super duper crowded, you know?

“Oh.” Was that disappointment Ren heard? “Takamaki-san, Amamiya-kun isn’t really in the right state to travel. He’s having a bad reaction to the medicine I gave him, and I’m afraid he’s just getting worse. I don’t think it’s a good idea he leave right now. Especially walking through the school, taking the trains, where any alpha could smell him?”

“But,” Ann starts, confused, surprised Maruki didn’t agree offhand.

“I spoke with Amamiya-kun, and we agreed it’s best if I drive him home myself, in my car, after school hours so there’s less chance of an alpha taking advantage.” Huh. They hadn’t discussed that. Had they? Ren had been really out of it, but… he didn’t remember them talking much. Especially not about that.

“O-oh,” Ann answers, off-kilter. Ren can almost picture her twirling a pigtail around one finger. “Uhm, I guess that’s okay, if he agreed…?” He can’t see her through the curtain, but he catches a whiff of her light and pleasant fruity bubblegum scent, but now it’s cut through with a sharp, acrid tang of fear.

“It’s fine,” Maruki assures her. “I’m no medical doctor, but he is my patient. I’ll take good care of him, Takamaki-san.”

Ren wonders if she can smell him, then remembers that the nurse’s office has a separate ventilation system just for this occasion: a place to protect heat-sickened omegas safely so their scents don’t drive every dynamic in the school crazy. He’s surprised her scent made it to him at all before being filtered out. She must be trying hard to push her way in.

“Sorry, I just, is he okay?”

Maruki tuts. “He just needs to rest, okay? He’ll be better by tomorrow, I’m sure of it.”

He doesn’t hear anything more from Ann, just the hiss of the door sliding shut and the click of the lock. Maruki’s done that a couple times now. Lock the door. Only now does it make the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. It’s just so no one bursts in and catches Ren in this state, right? But also… when he ate the cookies…

Maruki slips back in through the curtains, looking as soft and kind as he always does. “Sorry about that, Ren. Are you doing okay?”

For the moment, yeah, but he can feel the heat creeping back on him. “I, I think so? It’s not as intense, right now, but I think it’ll come back soon.” His stomach flips uncomfortably. He wishes he could be back at Leblanc. Even if he had to finger himself in the bathroom downstairs all night, at least he would have walls, familiar smells. Control of the lock.

“Maruki…” Ren starts as the doctor sits next to him on the bed. His eyebrows tick up and he tilts his head, waiting. “Did we…” Ren is a listener. He doesn’t like to cause problems, not with his friends, not without Joker’s mask emboldening him. Last time _Ren_ made trouble, he ended up in jail with bruises hidden under his clothes for weeks and trauma he still hasn’t unpacked. He didn’t know how to confront a friend with a lie. “Are you… were you serious, about driving me home?”

Maruki pets a hand through Ren’s hair. He flinches at the touch. Why is Maruki touching him like this? It’s not doing anything for his heat. It’s just making it worse. “It is the safest way for you to get back,” Maruki answers indirectly. “And I’m always serious when it comes to you, Ren.” His fingers trail from his hair down to his jaw, and Ren shivers. Not in a good way, more like he had just been dunked into a vat of ice. Then Maruki leans over him and presses his lips to his mouth.

Ren jolts, tries to turn his head away, but Maruki’s hand on his cheek is steady and cool and solid. Not forcing him, Maruki wouldn’t do that. But it’s enough pressure that Ren freezes in place, trapped between the bed and Maruki. Maruki, who is kissing him, over and over, soft repeated little flutter of lips on his. Ren’s stomach twists. Kissing Maruki feels paradoxically transgressive, despite everything they’d already done.

The kissing isn’t bad, but it spikes Ren’s heart rate, and adrenaline and fear floods his system. Ren doesn’t know why Maruki is kissing him. As he presses closer, kneeling over him in the bed, his thumb grazing Ren’s cheek and another hand pressing into his hip, his heat flares up again, and Ren moans. Heat spiking, Ren’s conscious mind begins to panic. Ren’s inner omega doesn’t care. It relishes in these warm gentle kisses, the heavy body pressed against him. He gasps and Maruki’s tongue slips into his mouth.

Ren puts a hand on Maruki’s shoulder and tries to push him away, but he can barely manage more than a little nudge. The doctor doesn’t move, just leans into him more insistently, chest against chest, the edge of his hips brushing Ren’s bare leg. Maruki’s wet, thick tongue fills Ren’s mouth with foreign spit and he gags on it, breaths wheezing through his nose. Ren tries again to turn his head away, break their connection, if only to gasp in a mouthful of air, but Maruki bites at Ren’s bottom lip, and suddenly he remembers _teeth._

Ren whines and ruts up into Maruki’s thigh, suddenly hungry for things he can’t express. The press of teeth, the sharpness of them in his skin, the promise of eternity behind the pain. Teeth offer safety and succor and unbreakable bonds, and Ren begs brokenly for Maruki’s mark. If he just gets bitten, gets marked, maybe everything will start to make sense. Maruki breaks from the kiss, chuckles, and licks a spot against Ren’s neck that makes him shiver, this time with ugly pleasantry. “Even if I did bite you, Ren, it wouldn’t take.” He nibbles at the flesh behind his ear, almost at the spot, almost where he wants him, and Ren pants and squirms and writhes trying to get Maruki to bite him just a little lower, just a little further back… “As much as I’d like to see a my teeth marks on you anyway, I can’t leave a mark on you.”

“But I… I need… _alpha –“_

Maruki kisses him again, harder, licking deep against the roof of his mouth. His head spins and he forgets what he was going to say. “Remember, Ren,” his voice is almost kind. “It’s ‘Sensei,’ isn’t it?”

“Sensei,” Ren agrees.

“Is this okay, Ren? Tell me what you need.”

Ren’s head throbs. Why can’t he just take it from him? Why does he have to say it when the words are so hard, make him so tired? “Want you,” Ren purrs, not wanting Maruki mad at him. “Hurts again, please…”

“You still need my help?” Maruki’s hand wraps around Ren’s cock, still hard, aching, been hard the whole time.

“Yes,” Ren moans, fucking up into Maruki’s loose grip.

He kisses Ren’s temple. “Good, Ren. My omega.”

Ren purrs again as Maruki turns him around, positioning him on hands and feet. _My omega._ Something in him sings at the possessive words. The rest of him feels more like screaming. But he can’t linger on any of that. His fever’s returned, and his body aches with a demand to be filled again. When Maruki lines himself up and penetrates Ren once more, he slides in smoothly, aided by the mess of slick of the cum Maruki already left in him.

“You feel so good, Ren. So wet. You’re really enjoying this,” he promises, hips snapping sharply into Ren’s shivering body. Ren clutches a pillow under his head, gasping, sibilant noises of praise and agreement hissing from his clenched jaw. Maruki stretches him out good, filling him up in all but the deepest ways, places only alphas can reach. He goes on even longer this time, having already released into Ren once today. Ren doesn’t know how much time passes, sinking in and out of the heat’s control. Sometimes Maruki is fucking him so fast and hard, he can’t tell apart Maruki’s grunts of pleasure with his own pained whines. Sometimes, he surfaces with Maruki’s fingers exploring his mouth as he grinds his hips deep and slow into Ren’s body. Ren gets off once more to Maruki’s efficient, hard strokes to his cock. Maruki might have come too, he’s not sure.

But neither of their orgasms even slow the heat this time. After Ren comes, he just burns hotter, that aching emptiness that Maruki almost satisfies grows wider, hungrier. “Sensei,” Ren begs. “Sensei, knot me, please, make me yours, take me, claim me, Sensei _please_!”

“Ren,” Maruki sighs, sliding his hand under Ren’s shirt to stroke up his spine. “I told you, I can’t knot you. We just have to keep going until you’re through this.”

Ren pulls his hands into his own hair and yanks, frustration sharpened to pain sharpened to a moment of clarity. He’s so tired, so aching, so out of his mind, he just wants it all to end, everything, everything just _stop_. “Do something,” Ren begs, his whole body sore and aching. “Sensei, help me! It _hurts!_ ”

Maruki slows, stops, pulls out. Ren doesn’t know if he’s relieved or if he’d rather be dead. “Ren,” Maruki’s voice is low and promissory. “I’ll take your pain away. I’ll make everything better for you. It’ll be okay, Ren.”

Maruki stands up and leave him for a moment, and Ren buries his face in the pillow underneath him. Crumpled, understuffed, smelling faintly of mildewy detergent from too many washes. Tears stain salty abstract expressionist masterpieces on the pillowcase, adding to the fluids in the sheets around him. The air is too empty and clean, even with the undercurrent of sex around them. His body is thoroughly fucked out, his wet hole filled with cum, and his own cock spent, but his hardness can’t abate, won’t abate, without a proper alpha fucking.

He hears a snap of latex, scents something watery and clean, and Maruki is kneeling back on the bed behind Ren, one hand massaging his ass. “It’s no knot,” Maruki begins enigmatically, “but maybe this will do.”

Three fingers breech Ren’s hole, and wordlessly he groans. It feels… different this time. His fingers feel tighter, less agile. He glances behind him and – he’s wearing exam gloves? Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter as Maruki rubs inexorably against his sweet spot and drowns out anything beyond the hunger of his heat. It’s both what he needs and what he’s sick of, uncontrolled arousal desperate for more fucking while his mind’s at the edge of breaking, unable to handle the sensations any more. But every thrust – of cock or of fingers – settles his nerves just a little, soothes the frantic omega whining along his nervous system. As long as he’s being fucked, maybe someone will take care of him. Maybe as long as something is in him, he won’t be alone. Ren’s abused rim is already so stretched that three fingers feels almost like nothing, moving easily in and out. They feels extra slick, though, like maybe Maruki had put some kind of lotion of them to smooth the way.

But instead of just fingering him until he can fuck him again, Maruki starts pushing even deeper, and a wider pressure tries to edge him open more. “S-sensei,” Ren gasps, trying to pull away but too weak to move. “What… are you –”

“You can take it,” Maruki assures. “Just like a knot, I’ll ease it in. It will feel good, Ren, just relax.”

Ren’s panting now, new pain erupting up his back and down his thighs as Maruki squeezes in his pinky finger, holding them just inside. His body is shrieking, on fire, a high, vibrating electricity zipping down every livewire nerve as Ren adjusts, but it hurts, hurts in a different way to all his other hurts. Maruki tries to move too early, and Ren weakly tries to crawl away, further up the bed, but Maruki’s other hand grabs his hip. “This is what you wanted, Ren,” Maruki’s low, soothing, gentle voice sounds so convincing. Ren wants it to be true. It would be so much easier if it were true. “You’re so amazing, Ren. You can take it. I know it. You’ll feel so much better, just a little more.”

Ren’s crying again, hiccuping little sobs as Maruki pushes almost his whole hand inside his body, four fingers tapering out to the width of his broad knuckles, and Ren knows he can’t do it, there’s no more room, Maruki’s going to split him open, he can’t, he _can’t,_ “Sensei, don’t, please–” But he just shushes him and tells him how good he’s doing. Then there’s a fifth finger, a _fifth,_ and Ren screams out loud for the first time, and he wishes he’d been screaming the whole time. It feels so much better, the loudness ripping from his throat as his rim feels like it breaks apart from _Maruki’s whole hand_ inside of him. He screams into the pillow, and Maruki keeps him there with a hand at the back of his head. Maybe if he screams enough, Maruki will suffocate him and that will be the end of everything, for good.

He doesn’t stop, God, he doesn’t stop, slipping deeper and deeper into Ren, in and out, coaxing him into accepting more of Maruki’s hand. Ren can’t stop babbling, crying, pleading for it to stop, why had he waited so long to tell him to stop? Maruki can’t stop now, he says, they’re almost done, just a little more, he’s only giving Ren what he asked for, it’s okay, just relax, deep breaths, a little more, just a little more _you’re doing so good, Ren, so good for me, my omega…_

Maruki’s knuckles slip past the shrieking burning _hurting_ ring of muscle and Maruki sinks his whole hand into Ren’s body. His fingers curl into a fist and Ren _wails,_ and his body seizes, and his body clamps around Maruki’s hand like it was the knot he had been blindly craving this whole time.

Ren doesn’t know what a knot feels like. His body doesn’t know either. But the rush of adrenaline and hormones and the nerve endings at his entrance send the signals anyway, and Ren’s body responds like an alpha just took him up to the knot and locks around Maruki’s hand anyway. A rush of endorphins blunt the pain and oxytocin hits him like an overdose, simmering inside his skull and burning a low note of belonging and acceptance and love, and he sinks into it rather than face reality. His whole body twitches, and his abdomen tightens, and whatever he was feeling before gets subsumed by warmth and affection.

He’s so, so tired.

He drifts on the sea of his soul while Maruki is still inside him, dreams filled with fitful starts and formless frights. Sometimes the waves peak and he floats, light, formless, thoughtless. He prefers the highs of empty nothingness. But then the wave crashes, and Ren sinks to the depths, tossed about in the waves, lost, not knowing which way is up, despair and helplessness crawling down his throat like water in his lungs. No Persona passes him by, no mask surfaces to bring him comfort. He doesn’t know who he should be anymore, leaving him with the terrible realization he might have to be _himself._

Something gnaws at his collarbone in one of these crashes, slow and hungry and driven with blunt grating teeth. He tries to push it away, but his hands meet air. The ghost gets his teeth in him, and instead of the pull of a bonding mark, he just feels dull, aching pain. He hears the droning of the school bell somewhere distant and far away, of footsteps and voices beyond the bubble of curtains and blankets and clean white scent. His heat burns low and unsettled in his stomach, worried that the alpha curled around him smells wrong, hasn’t bitten him where Ren craves, but knotted him nonetheless. He’ll have to try harder to please the alpha next time… next time...

Ren jerks awake. Maruki managed to free his hand at some point, and Ren’s head swirls with exhaustion and a cocktail of his body’s own drugs. His skin still aches, hurting to the touch, and his ass is… sore, dull, burning, aching, but not as bad as he feared, strangely. Maruki stands at the foot of the bed, snapping off a glove and adjusting his belt. Seeing him now, normally fluffy hair curling at his forehead and neck, wet with sweat, Ren can’t deny what happened. Maruki helped him through his heat… though Ren didn’t really enjoy it. Maruki turns to look at him, alerted to the change in Ren’s breathing, and he sees his pants are still undone and his underwear is pulled up, and _Ren can see his underwear._ Ren’s own pants are still missing, and he can feel the sticky wetness between his legs. His uniform has dried pale patches of crusty white across the front. Ren curls up on his side, his legs and shoulders and ass hurt so much, and shame burns his face fever-hot.

Maruki pets his hair soothingly, a smile in his voice. “How are you feeling, Ren?”

 _Terrible,_ is a word. _Exhausted. Hurt. Betrayed._ But why? Maruki only did what he asked him to do. He’d still rather it be Maruki than some random alpha in school or, God forbid, on the train heading home. He’s a doctor, a professional. Ren’s fingers find purchase in his own frizzy hair, pulling sharply, trying to physically sort his thoughts in a way that made sense. Maruki couldn’t predict Ren’s absolutely abysmal reaction to the pills. Although… didn’t Maruki say something about the pills? What did he say…

Ren’s head hurts. Thinking hurts. Maruki frowns at him, touches his cheek. It sends Ren’s guts roiling for some reason and he remembers not eating all day. Except for Maruki’s cookies. “Ren? Are you still with me?” He makes a little concerned sound and kneels at Ren’s side, thumb grazing just under Ren’s right eye. Tears well up in Ren’s eyes, and his hands pulls more sharply at his hair, trying to distract himself. “If you’re still not feeling good, maybe I need to keep an eye on you longer.”

A bolt of fear crashes through him, and Ren summons words from the depths of his heart. “No, no, I’m… okay. Just tired. Can I… go home now?”

There’s a beat of silence, and Ren can’t be sure what Maruki is going to say. The relief when Maruki smiles and says “Of course, Ren,” is tempered when he continues with, “let me take you to my car.”

Maruki retrieves Ren’s clothes and helps him dress. Ren’s face doesn’t stop burning. Every touch of Maruki’s cool, steady hands contrasts sharply with Ren’s weak, shaking arms, twitching fingers jumping at every little caress. He hates how immature he’s being. It’s not like… what they did was bad. Why can’t he be as casual and clinical about this as Maruki? He’s not even talking about what they did. Maybe… maybe Maruki does this a lot, with other students. The thought makes his head hurt even worse, so he stops thinking it.

When Maruki gets his pants back up, he frowns at the mess on Ren’s blazer. “Most people have probably gone home by now, but you shouldn’t keep wearing messy clothes. Sorry, I should have helped you clean it earlier. Do you have a spare uniform at home?” His eyes are so soft and gentle behind his glasses. So in control and relaxed. Maruki clearly doesn’t feel bad about what just happened. Why does Ren? Was it because it was his first time really experiencing his heat, or something else?

“I do,” Ren mumbles.

“Okay, good. Well, for now, let’s just take it off.” Without waiting, Maruki undoes Ren’s buttons and slips the blazer off his slack shoulders. “Oh, you live in a cafe, don’t you? You probably don’t have laundry then, huh. I’ll wash this for you – it’s the least I can do.”

Ren opens his mouth to mention the laundromat across the alley, but then he doesn’t say anything. Just nods.

Maruki walks him out of the school, and it’s true that most students have left. A few teachers wave and say their goodbyes to Maruki, and he greets them right back. If this was wrong, wouldn’t Maruki be acting shady? Trying to smuggle Ren out without being seen? But they’re moving in public, smiling, and people see him getting in Maurki’s car. This is normal. This is okay. Right?

Ren climbs into the passenger seat and buckles his seat belt as Maruki takes his place next to him. “Oh, I went ahead and used your phone to tell your friends that you are okay. Takamaki-san was especially worried.” Ren’s chest tightens. Using his phone? But… but Futaba had put some complicated locks on everyone’s phone, something about how easy they had been to hack. And if he’d opened their chats, would he have seen anything about the Phantom Thieves? The betrayed feeling rushes to his brain and leaves him feeling faint.

“Oh… thanks.” Ren doesn’t know how to navigate this interaction anymore. Hasn’t known what to do for a while.

Maruki beams, apparently not detecting Ren’s discomfort. “You’re welcome!” He starts the car and begins driving. “You have everything you need at Leblanc, right? I have been meaning to say, I’m concerned that you’re boarding at a cafe. Your circumstances are difficult enough; is it comfortable there? Are you happy?”

Happy, huh. “I like Leblanc.” It’s safe enough to say. He doesn’t ask how Maruki knows where he lives. That should be easy enough for a teacher to find out, he supposes.

Maruki nods, eyes fixed on the road. “Good, good. If that ever changes, let me know. I did a little welfare check on the place during your school trip. Sojiro-san seems very protective.”

He visited Leblanc? Ren’s nausea grows almost intolerable, and he wraps his arms around his stomach. Maruki notices, of course.

“You sure you feel okay?” His voice is so soft, so concerned, Ren wants to throw himself out of the car for hating it so much.

“Yeah,” he says. “Like I said, just tired.”

“You’re not hurt anywhere, are you? I hope I didn’t hurt you… I just wanted to give you what you wanted.”

Ren squeezes his eyes shut to block off the tears. Of course. Ren had gone so crazy, having never dealt with a heat before, he asked for things he didn’t understand. Maruki just gave him what he wanted. Even when he said no, in the end, Maruki got his heat under control. He still feels weird, lingering warmth and discomfort, but they just got a little rough. It was Ren’s first time. He didn’t have a right to be mad at Maruki about it. Ren’s making it weird. “A little sore,” he admits. “But that’s fine. I can just go visit the baths.”

Maruki frowns. “Public baths? Are you sure that’s okay, so close to your heat? Are you through it already?” Keeping one hand on the wheel, he presses another to Ren’s forehead. “You’re a little warm. Some omegas are in heat for a week. Will you be okay?”

Ren waves off Maruki’s hand, hoping to be casual about it. How much longer do they have to drive? And how much longer will he have to keep up the small talk? “Yeah, I think so. I’ll get back on my pills in the morning, stay home tomorrow. I’ll manage.”

“But your pills failed. Are you sure they will keep working?” Ren wrings his hands. He hadn’t considered that. He takes a deep breath, let’s it out slowly. If his pills stop working, maybe he’ll go see Takemi, get something stronger, because he… because… “If you have any more problems,” Maruki continues, fingers rapping joyfully on the wheel. “You know I would be happy to help. I care about you, Ren. I want you to be safe.”

His breath catches in his throat, his heart racing. Maruki navigates to Yongen, but he can’t drive directly to Leblanc. He parks outside the alley, near the station. Ren’s fingers fumble unlocking his seat belt, and as he scrambles for the door, Maruki catches his wrist. He is afraid to turn around. “I mean it, Ren,” Maruki whispers. “You don’t need to be embarrassed or worried. I’m a beta. I can’t get you pregnant.” Fire burns high and hot in Ren’s cheeks. Adrenaline pumps into his system, and he can’t be in this car a second longer.

“Right,” Ren chokes out, then dashes out of the car. He’s ashamed he can’t manage a proper goodbye.

Inside Leblanc, upstairs, Ren throws himself into bed, grabbing every pillow and blanket he can find. There aren’t many. Morgana isn’t there. Tomorrow, he can check his phone, investigate what Maruki saw in his chat logs. Tell everyone he made it home okay. Find out where Morgana is staying. The plan comforts and grounds him. But for tonight? Tonight, Ren is alone with nothing but thoughts and memories of Maruki, and lingering, unsettling, discomforting arousal at the phantom sensations he left throughout his body, a lingering bite mark under the collar of his turtleneck.

**Author's Note:**

> Summary of events:  
> Ren is an omega on heat suppressants and Maruki is a beta. Maruki gets Ren to eat cookies baked with activated charcoal, which off-set Ren’s suppressants, sending him into heat. Ren does not realize why he’s suddenly in heat, and goes to Maruki. Maruki offers him pills which he says are emergency suppressants but are actually heat enhancers. Ren’s heat goes out of control, and he begs Maruki to have sex with him, which he does. But Maruki being a beta, Ren’s heat isn’t satisfied after one time, so they continue going multiple times. Ren dissociates through some of the rape, vaguely aware of it being wrong but unable to admit it to himself while in heat, and physically enjoys it while emotionally distancing from it. At one point, Ann interrupts, but Maruki lies and sends her away, and she doesn’t realize what is happening. They end when Maruki fists Ren, simulating being knotted. Ren never learns how Maruki manipulated him. Although he is uncomfortable with the whole thing, Maruki treats it as normal, so Ren thinks it is okay. Maruki drives him back home, where he is left alone.
> 
> Please let me know if you think I missed a tag, and I will add it.
> 
> Credit to [futuresoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/futuresoon), [SoyCaptain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoyCaptain) (@EmoStuntTwink on Twitter), and [SuperMechaAkira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperMechaAkira/pseuds/SuperMechaAkira) for brainstorming the ideas and letting me run with them and put them all together. Thank you so much!!


End file.
